Five must-dos before starting your tiny house build
The things I wish someone had shared with me before I started.
Many of us are guilty of diving into the build of our latest Ikea purchase without bothering to read the instructions. The result? A wonky draw, a leftover screw or three and an unfindable squeak. So when it comes to planning your tiny house here’s a tip… sketch out a roadmap before setting out to build your dream. A little planning will save you 100s of hours of back and forth.
Having a north-star vision will minimise mistakes and ensure your home gives you many years of brief-meeting pleasure. Here are five must-dos before putting nail to wood.
1. Work out how you live
Are you building your home for full-time living, as a regular escape pod from the urban beat, or perhaps it’s a side hustle to create a rental income stream? Knowing this baseline before you start will define the function and foundations of your design. For example, living full-time with a low-ceiling loft bedroom that you can’t stand up in vs. a single-floor dwelling with a separate, full-height bedroom space makes for a very different experience.
Write a ‘day in the life’ timeline of how you live now… sunrise to lights out. From there assign functional home needs for each task. Having this ‘bible’ to refer back to will ensure all elements of your design make sense. Here are a few examples:
Wake up | Sit up in bed
Task: I need enough ceiling height to sit up comfortably in bed and read
Wake up | Reach for my phone
Task: I need a power point next to my bed
Day to day | I hate washing up
Task: I need a dishwasher (Speaking of my own laziness here)
Coming home | I need storage for my boots
Task: I need a shoe shelf or drawer next to the front door
2. Choose your climate and utilities status
Living in the tropics means your build will focus on staying cool and being able to escape the midday sun. In colder climates, you’ll want to be snug as a bug with adequate insulation, heating and possibly some kind of air exchange system.
Living off-grid in a tiny house can mean a composting toilet, water tanks, propane, a wastewater management system and solar power. A markedly different experience to suburban life where you’re connected to sewerage and on-grid power. More decisions need to be made for off-grid living, but both scenarios require solid planning.
It’s ok not knowing where you’re going to park your tiny home 6-12 months out from completing your build, but having a sense of environment and access to on-grid conveniences is essential.
3. Find a tiny mentor
Sure this is your ship, but having a ‘been there done that’ expert on your team will elevate your build well beyond your expectations. It could be an architect or a draftsperson, or even a colleague who had completed a self-build tiny. How thick are the walls? Do I need double glazing on my windows? How many windows do I need? What’s the difference between LPG and Induction? Do I go with an incinerating or composting toilet? You get the picture! Bother the pants off them and lean in… I promise it will be a game-changing plugin for your tiny house build journey. You might even forge a good friendship out of it.
If you don’t have a mentor then connect with the online tiny community. A few helpful links are below. They love diving into the trenches for all things composting!
4. Set a realistic timeline
If you’re planning a self-build tiny then it’s going to require a solid slab of time, so say goodbye to socialising and normality for a good while. Throw in the reality of working full-time then it will take even longer. If you’re planning to work with a full-service provider, then the timing logistics will be determined by how busy they are and materials availability. Paying your deposit will secure your place in the build queue.
Tip: If going with a tiny house builder then ask lots of questions and make sure you have a contract in place before commencing your build… expect timelines to blow out a little.
5. Define a budget
Yes, the money part. Create a spreadsheet and break it down into individual spaces in your tiny home. List out the finishes you like, the things you need for each space and where you can source them. The amount of detail required here will depend on how involved you are with your tiny house build. If you’re opting for a turn-key home then this specification will be simpler, focusing on decisions like which tiles you want in the bathroom, and what colour your will walls be. At the other end of the spectrum is the self-build where detail will be your friend. Drop me a message below if you’d like me to share a template spreadsheet to work with.
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Planning is your friend. Do the groundwork now and I promise you the road ahead will be exciting for all the right reasons.
Final thought… don’t start to sweat the uncertainty of finding a parking spot too far out from being ready to park your tiny home. Like finding a rental property, there’s little point in starting the search more than a few months out. Most likely the landlord won’t be prepared to wait, or even if they are, should another offer come along they will most likely take it.
Got any more helpful tips for budding tiny homers? Please share in the comments below.
Resources
Australian Tiny Houses – Facebook Group
Tiny House Spaces Australia – Facebook Group
Tiny House Conversations – Great podcast by Tiny Houser Lucy Lich
Australian Tiny House Association – Latest advice around tiny house living/legal
That you change your mind about specifics as you go along. Eg I decided no toilet inside, 6 months in to the build.
As a horticulturist I also consider ASPECT. Even if this is fictional. North facing is very advantageous to sunrise, sunset and Summer and Winter sunlight. Sunrise on bedroom or kitchen? Shade in Summer, Sun in Winter, window placement, solar panels. All these considerations are relevant to Nth, Sth, East and West orientation. 👌🌻deb